Postojna Cave as a show cave: railway and electric light
Cueva turística de Postojna: tren y luz eléctrica
- Date
- 1872-1884 · confidence high
- Place
- Postojna Cave, Postojna, Slovenia
- Credited to
- Postojna Cave management
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The great karst cave opened to visitors in 1819 and received in 1872 a narrow-gauge railway to travel through it and in 1884 electric lighting. It is one of the earliest examples of mass underground tourism.
It is claimed to be the first show cave with a railway and one of the first with electric light in Europe; these priorities come from the cave itself and are not checked against other caves of the time. The railway moment is recorded as the milestone.
What it led to
- show caves with internal transport
- cave tourism on the Karst